At this moment I decide to avenge Melanie; even though she’s been on my nerves lately she’s still one of my best friends, “If you could be with any one of the Maraudettes for an entire night, who would you pick? And remember to be honest,” I wink at him. I’m way too intuitive to not know who it is he’ll choose.

Lupin starts to fidget, “Well, uhm, I did have a lovely time at the dance with Ella, but I think we can both agree that nothing is going to happen there. Cassie is a lunatic, and I very well know that if James ever heard me choose Lily I would never see the light of day again. So I guess the obvious, logical option here would be Melanie.”

“And can you truthfully say that, if she wasn’t the most reasonable choice, you would be opposed to the idea?” El asks him amusedly.

James begins to help out in making our friend squirm, “And didn’t you always say you’re a sucker for blue eyes?”

“And,” Sirius also joins in on the fun, “What was that you were mumbling the other night in your sleep, over and over again? Was it… Memory? Melody? Oh, no, I remember. You were doubtlessly calling out the name Melanie.”

Remus is now bright red, “I mean, err, obviously Barrett isn’t exactly unattractive. If you’re into that whole domineering woman act she puts on. But I think that really, she’s the type of girl that wants someone to put her in her place… Not saying that I want to put her in her place or anything. That would be weird. Oh Merlin, why am I still talking?”

The rest of us crack up at his awkwardness.

“Wow, mate,” Black wipes a tear from his eye, “I knew you needed to get laid, but I didn’t realize you wanted to get with Barrett that much!”

Now the same shade as a lobster, Lupin indignantly crosses his arms and stares at the ground, muttering something about how he’ll “get Padfoot back for that one next full moon” or something random like that.

“Alright,” Lupin smiles at Ella, “When we get back at school, I dare you to hit on Padfoot’s uptight little brother. Don’t worry, we’ll show you who the little prat is when the time comes.”

At first my best friend is stiff as a board, but then she regains her composure once she realizes she can make this work, “Alright, I’ll do it. Mary, your turn.”

I don’t think I’ve seen anything more evil than the smile on shirtless little Mary’s face as she looks at Sirius right then.

*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*

JAMES’S POV:

I shook my head as I watched my best friend, completely naked except for the makeshift loin cloth Mary allowed him to make for himself out of lunch meat, run up and down the street in the cold night air shouting “Come and get me, boys!”

I knew she didn’t like him, but this was downright demeaning!

But I still laughed at him, of course. This was some downright funny stuff. After all, he did make Mary of all people go the rest of the night with no shirt on. It wasn’t exactly unknown that she was not fond of him to start with.

After a couple of minutes, an out-of-breath Sirius comes back over to us, “Alright, Virgin Mary, can I please stop now?”

“I guess,” She giggles, “But keep the meat outfit. It’s a much better look for you.”

He groans and we all go back into the tent, Padfoot deciding to take Mary’s advice and stick with the bologna undies. It was now his turn to ask someone.

And surprise, surprise, he looked straight at McDonald, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Is it true that you’ve never been kissed?” the four of us all immediately began to glare at Sirius, who had an evil smirk on his face. He very well knew that she had politely, with her sweet little voice, turned down every boy that ever tried to ask her out so that she could focus on her studies, and yet he still decided to go there.

“Yes,” she finally says in a confident voice that only falters at the very end, “That’s true. But, tell me, Black, can you remember the names of every single girl you’ve kissed?”

He just grumbles in response. He really doesn’t like people that can beat him at his own game, and I think I can almost sense hatred radiating out from him in Mary’s direction. He especially does not like girls that can beat him at his own game.

“Ugh, this game is going too slow,” Moore moans, “Time for me to get somebody out! Lupin, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Bad choice, my friend. I dare you to owl this to Melanie,” she takes out a small tape recorder and plays back the recording of him admitting that Barrett is ‘not unattractive’ and ‘wants someone to put her in her place’.

Moony is instantly paler than the moon itself, “You were recording? What kind of lunatic records a game of truth or dare!”

“I found the tape recorder in my purse while James was asking Lily about her having not done anything crazy,” she shrugs, “When Lily asked you the truth about us Maraudettes, I figured I might get some fun out of getting your answer on the record.”

Sighing, Remus throws his hands up, “Sorry, guys, I’m going to have to pass on this one. Guess I’m out of the game.”

After we each smack the back of Moony’s head quite hard, Padfoot begins to glare at Moore with all the intensity he can muster, “If you weren’t my best girly friend I would hate you with the rage of five hundred suns.”

“Sorry, Siri-boy,” she laughs lightheartedly, “That’s how the game is played. And since Lupin is out of the game, I guess it’s your turn.”

“So it is, so it is…” He mutters evilly, and the turns his attentions to Lily, “You wenches attacked our weak link, and so I shall attack yours! Or at least your link that I am the least terrified of. Evans, truth or dare?”

“Dare,” She blurts out, but then gets a cute expression of immediate regret across her face. The same one she gets when she laughs at one of my (always hilarious) jokes.

A terrifying grin lodges itself in my best friend’s face, he is far too competitive, “I dare you to lock yourself in a room with Prongs for ten minutes… After taking a love potion for him!”

“It’s my fault,” Ella sighs, “We could probably make a case against it if I hadn’t already crossed a line by recording a truth. Lils, you have to do it. Just suck it up. I mean, if you really don’t have feelings for Potter like you say, why is it such a problem?”

I start to stutter out unintelligible mumblings, but then submit, “Fine. I’ll do it. But you guys owe me big time!”

We turn back around, and Ella says, “Lily accepts the dare.”

All three boys’ jaws drop, most notably Potter’s.

“Fine,” Black pouts at my refusal to quit, “Let’s go into James’s house to find his mother’s potion recipes.”

We leave the tent to go into the Potter house, Sirius and me begrudgingly trudging behind the rest for entirely different reasons.

“Here,” James leads us to a dusty hallway closet somewhere in his giant home, “This is where she keeps all of her old potions books from her days of partying.”

We begin to search through them for love potions.

“I can’t find anything,” Mary groans after about fifteen minutes of all of us searching through every single book, “There isn’t a single love potion in here!”

“Either we find a love potion or Evans forfeits!” Black exclaims.

Lupin speaks up, “Wait, I think I found something!” We all huddle around him on the place on the floor where he sits, “It’s a potion called Illabantur Amare. But I’m not sure which is more terrifying: the fact that it says it’s for ‘obsessive, uncontrollable love’, or that the warnings include ‘keep subject away from sharp object and breakable things’. Besides, it’s a two-way potion, so for it to work both Lily and James would have to take it.”

I look down at the pinkish-white mixture Remus handed me, and then up at Potter, who has one of his own, “Ready?” I say to him, slightly muttering.

“Bottoms up,” he replies, and we both take the overly-sweet tasting shots.

Quickly after, Black and Ella push us into some room and lock the door. I assume that it used to be some sort of play room for James. Though all the toys seemed to be cleaned out, there still sat a couple of giant bean bags to one side and a map of the stars on the ceiling.

I look over at Potter, and still feel the same as I did before. It must not be kicking in yet. But for some reason he’s looking at me different than usual, more… animalistic? He bites his lip and—oh, why did he have to bite his lip that way? Whenever he does that, I just can’t, I just can’t, control…

I feel my ability to think straight fade away as he walks towards me, his eyes staring into mine unashamedly. What I wouldn’t do to—

No! Bad Lily! It’s just the stupid potion thinking for you, but how did you never notice how nicely those jeans fit him? And he could definitely do without that shirt, but this was bad because he’s James and I’m Lily! And that doesn’t work but doesn’t it? Because I’m pretty sure those luscious lips would work just fine against my own (completely unwilling, I swear!) lips.

“J-James, stop, please, I’m trying to think!” I manage to string some words of reluctance together, and I was almost positive I meant them. Almost. Or was I at all?

He seems just as puzzled as I am for a second, but that quickly goes away as he gives in and says, “Lily, please, say my name again. The way you say it is better than anything else.”

Dizziness overtakes me, and I stumble a little bit but then he catches me, “Wow,” This doesn’t seem real to at all so I decide it’s a dream and say, “We are really close right now and I swear you smell like happiness.”

Suddenly, I’m overwhelmed by a rush of senses. I am immediately filled with rage and passion and unending desire and—did I just angrily knock over his lamp?

“I’m sorry,” the dream-like euphoria comes back just as quickly as it left, “I killed your lamp.”

“It’s okay,” James grabs me by the waist and pulls me closer, “I like the way you break lamps.”

The lack of space between us is extremely apparent and I begin to bite my lip. He brings his hands up to my face slowly, and gently swipes his thumb over my lips to make me stop biting them, “Don’t bite those. They’re mine.”

“Y-yours?”

“I claimed them. In third year. Whether or not either of us likes it, those lips are mine,” Suddenly, he gets the same crazy look in his eyes that I probably had during my lamp-rampage, and roughly presses me to him and kisses me with a carnal lack of inhibition. His mouth is soft, and warm, and—

He stops and pulls away, back into the haze that the potion had put us in. I gasped, missing his lips. The fury came back, and I pushed him away with all my strength. He stumbles back, and falls onto the beanbag, breaking it and making thousands of little beads spill onto the floor around us. It kind of looks like we’re on a cloud.

Once again, the feeling passes and I’m back in dream-land, “James,” is all I can say before I run and jump on top of him and the beanbag, not scared that I’ll hurt him because I know he’s strong enough to hold much more than my weight. He doesn’t seem to be complaining, and I unthinkingly kiss him again, but this time it’s gentle and sweet and I don’t want it to stop.

And that’s when the potion wore off. I pull back from the kiss and stare at him, unsure of what to do, and he seems just as shocked as I am.

We just look at each other for a few seconds, confusion swimming between us, until we hear a knock at the door and Ella’s voice, “Alright you two, ten minutes is up! You can come out!”

“Uhm, Lily?” Potter finally speaks.

“Yeah?”

“Under usual circumstances I would have no problem with this, but would you mind getting off of me? I think it would be best if we leave now.”

“Merlin!” I shout and hop off him, realizing that I’d been practically straddling him.

Awkward silence surrounding us, we uncomfortably walked over and opened the door. Ella, Sirius, Mary, and Remus were staring at us with questioning expressions.

“Mate, not that I’m questioning whatever kind of stuff the two of you are into, but what the hell was all that slamming and crashing going on in there?” Black asks Potter.

We both turn violently red and stay silent. We look at each other, and with our eyes decide to never, ever speak of this.

“So,” I finally say, “Whose turn is it?”

A/N: I’M SO SORRY I’VE BEEN GONE SO LONG. Luckily, after a long time of being busy and having writer’s block during what little free time I’ve had, I’m back on a roll! Much thanks to my good friend Peaches and Knives, whom I owe this chapter to due to the fact that we both had the urge to include violent, potion induced kissing scenes in our next chapters and decided to write them together. Anyways, be sure to look into her stories (The Sidekick if you want something funny, The Politics of Dodgeball if you want some light drama) and please forgive me for my absence! And while you’re at it, I wouldn’t mind some reviews ;)